Work continued apace on the second new door for Chicago Great Western X 38. John Faulhaber did a lot of the fussy work of fitting the joints and I pitched in when I had some free time. The second door is ready for assembly and glue up.

Jointing

The BIG job of the day, volume wise and manpower wise was making stock for new roof boards for Michigan Electric 28. So you will see a lot of pics of those steps. The goal is to have about 1200 linear feet of stock sized and planed for milling a tongue and groove on each piece. Henry Vincent, Paul Cronin, and Buzz Morisette got the ball rolling by running the remaining rough boards through the jointer to make one edge true and straight. I should note that Paul Cronin had knee replacement surgery a little over four weeks ago and he is back in the shop working. TWO THUMBS UP for Paul!

Ripping Done

All the wide boards were cut to the needed two inch wide strips and Paul, Bill Peterson, Henry, and Buzz were stacking them completed around midday. But these guys are like the EverReady bunny, they just will not stop. They were ready for MORE!

Planing

So we have this stack of something over 100 pieces of stock and the next step is to plane to about 7/16 inch thickness. Buzz, Henry, Paul and Bill took on that task. It is fairly simple if you have two or four pieces, but 100? A lot of handling and the consideration of where do you stack it up along the process.

Planing

Buzz and Henry were feeding the stock, and Paul and Bill were acting as catchers. Every 15 minutes or so an intermission was called. We have a pretty good system to collect the dust and chips. But you have to watch the collection barrel and make sure it gets emptied!

Second Wind

Henry and Buzz continue feeding the planer while Greg Kepka pitched in moving and staging still more stock to feed that voracious machine.

Second Pass

Still these guys wanted more. Paul and Henry are at the infeed end of the planer for the second and final pass to produce the finished 3/8 inch thickness. Bill and Greg are at the outfeed end acting as catchers.

The Result

Whew! With all that done, now what do we do with it? Bill, Henry, and Paul are stacking off the finished work while others help to clean up the work area near the planer. A BIG job DONE! With much of the center stage area of the wood shop and its machines busy, that did not mean all the other work stopped. You merely had to take a number and wait your turn.

Windows

Rich Witt was measuring and laying out cuts on new beautiful mahogany stock for the Boston & Maine windows we are making. That got processed and is ready for the next step.

Fittings

Tim Peters filled some of his time waiting for machines to be available by cleaning and wire brushing some castings needed in the next steps for rebuilding a door for Chicago Rapid Transit 1024.

The Skin

Then Tim was back on the saw with a tricky set up for slicing a thin skin of quarter sawn white oak to be applied to one of the stiles on the above door. The skin was not particularly loud but the nearby planer was still howling away, thus the ear protection. Either that or he thought it was cold in the shop and likes warm ears.

PCC Cars

Two of our PCC cars saw more work. Frank Sirinek and Mike Stauber were in the shop stripping old paint and cleaning interior panels and trim for the Kansas City Public Service PCC car.

Cleveland Too

Lorne Tweed and Eric Lorenz continue work on the Cleveland Transit System 4223 PCC car. They claim they were involved in some planning and engineering work, but it looks to me more like something shady was being discussed as I caught them in the act with some drawings and plans.

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Jeron G. about Early February woodshop activiesSun, 03-01-2015 16:46That was sprayed on the cab while
at East Troy. The locomotive is
TE-1. It was built for Toledo
Edison, and worked there its entire
life until [...]

Roger Kramer about Early February woodshop activiesSat, 02-28-2015 21:28Hello Bill I hope someone from
the Electric Car dept will respond
to your question. I believe one
of the members wrote that on the
engine. It [...]

Roger Kramer about Early February woodshop activiesSat, 02-28-2015 21:24Hello Mr. Fan. I was wondering if
you ever had conveyed your
interest to the team restoring the
plow? Not being involved but
knowing the members [...]

Raphael about Energy in the Steam DeptSat, 02-28-2015 18:16while 428's cab is still on the
ground, there could be some
premature painting and decals that
could go on the outside of the cab

Bill McCoy about Early February woodshop activiesSat, 02-28-2015 15:50The last picture in the woodsshop
report shows the Electroliner and a
yellow steeple cab with a CNS&M
monogram and spray painted number
454. Could [...]

CGW RR fan about Early February woodshop activiesFri, 02-27-2015 12:17The UP sticker could be for a truck
trailer.
The headlight is neat. However for
the accuracy nut, the plow
originally had a style of Pyle
[...]

Nigel Bennett about Steam Department Update January 2015Fri, 02-27-2015 11:44Mike,
Yep. We always like to think she
may have been operated by Casey
...... but we will never be sure.
Nigel

Nigel Bennett about Steam Department Update January 2015Fri, 02-27-2015 11:42Zach,
At this time we will not be
offering "Take the Throttle" on
1630 this year.
The issue is that, after not
running for a number of years, we
[...]

Zach Kaye about Steam Department Update January 2015Fri, 02-27-2015 09:34I am curious as to whether or not
you will be offering cab rides on
1630 this coming season. I
understand you did not offer any
last year, as it was [...]

Dave Zeman about Early February woodshop activiesWed, 02-25-2015 22:04Hey I saw on the home page on the
scroll ad for mother's day,is that
shelter in the picture new? It
looks as if it is right across the
mainline by the [...]